“Nice,” he commented, looking around the room. Her house was small but quaint and homey. She’d taken time to choose each piece of furnitureand knickknack.
“I have to say I’m kind of surprised you live in a house like this. I might have been a little distracted the other night when I dropped youoff to notice.”
“What did you expect?” She knew what he expected. Some large mansion or penthouse apartment. Sure, her parents had many of those and she’d grown up with all that wealth. The place she’d always felt at home though was Callie’s little bungalow. It was warm and inviting.
“Not a Cape style house. But I like it. Makes you seem more real.”
“Because I was fake before?” Seriously could he take the stick out of his ass about her being raised in a wealthy family? She thought they’d gotten past that.
“Never fake, no. Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. You know I have a slight problem in that area. I need to keep working on it. Forgive me.”
“Fine, but no more cracks about the rich and famous.”
“Why don’t you give me a tour while I tell you what I found out?”
“Sure, we can start here in the living room.” It was good sized, though nowhere near as large as the area he had. Probably why he seemed surprised. He wouldn’t expect that she had smaller living space than he did.
They walked through the doorway into the kitchen. She’d updated it with all the modern conveniences while still keeping it simple. “I was about to throw a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch. Did youwant to stay?”
“Stay for lunch?” His eyebrow raised and his lips twisted.
Always the same thing on his mind. It had been on her mind a lot lately too. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do about it, though. With only a simple touch, he set her on fire, yet how could she give up her independence for him? He was the type of guy who wanted to take care of his woman. Take control. Having control over her own life had been her goal for along time now.
“Yes, lunch. You know,when you eat.”
“That’d be nice. To eat here.” He would have been more believable if his gaze hadn’t wandered down her skirt to the juncture of her thighs. Memories of him dining there seized her and she had to shake her head to rid herselfof the images.
“I have two rooms down this hallway,” she said breathing deeply, trying to ignore how close he’d come up behind her. “I use one for my home office. The other is for relaxing.” She indicated the television, stereo, and comfortablecouches within.
“What was the information you got?” he asked, as they moved back toward the living room.
“I had a friend, who’s extremely talented with a computer, check out where the payments came from for the taxes on the building. They’d been paid until January but this guy had been in prison for almost four years. That didn’t make sense.”
“Exactly what I thought too,” he said, his gaze wandering over her knickknacks and decorations. What was he thinking? And why did she even care? He was her business partner, nothing more.Except you want to rip his clothes off and jump on for a ride. And he’d be happy to oblige.
He hadn’t pushed the issue a few days ago on their date, though. She’d wondered about that. Especially since she knew he’d been plenty aroused with their bout of tonsil hockey in the car. Her hand had skimmed over his pants and he’d been hard as a rock. For some reason, though, she hadn’t invited him in. God, she’d wanted to. Her girly parts certainly hadn’t been happy with her decision. And yet, he hadn’t pushed or even tried to seduce his way in. He would have been successful.
“This guy followed the money trail for who had actually paid the taxes. It took a few random turns but he finally came up with an account from which the money was drawn. Canyou guess who?”
His grin grew and the dimple stood out in his chin, making her want to kiss it. “I think I can. Our man in prison gave us a name of someone he’d been working for at the time he supposedly boughtthe building.”
“Victor Cabrini,” they both said atthe same time.
“I can’t believe it. How is this man still screwing with our family?” After all he’d done to Callie, the name still gave her chills.
“It is a weird coincidence but I think that’s all it is. We were the ones to go after the building. Cabrini had his hand in lots of pies. I’m still trying to figure out what he was doing with this building. The answer to our troubles could be in there somewhere.”
“I know he’s dead, but did he leave someone who’s trying to finish some of his work?”
Stepping closer, Scott pushed a strand of hair off her cheek then rested his hand on her shoulder. “Jack plans to get in contact with Tony Pascucci, Victor’s right-hand man. The guy’s trying to go legit but he might have some information that’ll help us. I plan to go with him once he sets up a meet.”
“I wouldn’t mind talkingto him myself.”
“I don’t know how smart that’d be. He might be doing things legal now, but he’s the one who let Angelo Cabrini die and took out Victor.”
There was that protectiveness again. Didn’t he realize she could take care of herself?Like you did when looking for Jian?Okay, maybe she needed some assistance at times. She still wasn’t completely helpless.
“Let me know what you find out. Did you want to finish the grand tour?”
